Police officers are typically required to carry a great deal of equipment in the performance of his/her duties. In addition to a gun, a police officer is often required to carry a radio, handcuffs, baton and a flashlight. Other equipment may include ticket books, tear gas, extra ammunition, or spare batteries for the radio.
Police trainers must also carry a large amount of equipment that may need to be available at all times for instructional purposes, use in simulations and in the event of injuries. A great deal of tactical training is done outside or on location. Trainers thus must carry and have on their person (when away from a typical classroom), Red Gun brand simulated training weapons, inert pepper spray, handcuffs, disposable restraints, restraint cutters, various sizes of expandable batons, a flashlight, pocket training books, pens, note pads and first aid equipment.
A great deal of the equipment carried by a police officer or police trainer is carried on the officer's or trainer's belt. Handguns have typically been carried in a gun holster attached to a belt. Tear gas containers and ammunition are also usually placed in special receptacles attached to the officer's or trainer's belt.
One difficulty with the conventional method of carrying such equipment is access. For example during inclement weather, the officer or trainer may wear a coat that covers and restricts access to the equipment carried by an officer or trainer. While this may be a minor inconvenience in some cases, it can become life-threatening in other cases. For example, when confronted by a weapon-wielding attacker, any delay in drawing the officer's weapon could place the officer in great danger.
As an alternative to carrying his equipment on the belt, an officer or trainer could place some of this equipment in the pockets of any coat that will be worn. However, the pockets of conventional coats are not particularly well suited for police equipment.
For example, an officer or trainer may choose to place a gun in the coat's pocket. However, if an officer should be seated, then a gun placed in a coat's pocket could fall out.
Further, if the officer or trainer is sitting on a cushioned seat, such as a car seat or a couch, and does not realize the gun has fallen out, then it may be some time before the officer or trainer realizes that the gun has been lost. In addition to the danger to the officer in not being armed when he believes that he is in fact armed, there is also a danger to anyone finding the lost gun, such as children or criminals.
In addition to the difficulty of coat pockets not being particularly well suited to carrying police equipment, there is also the difficulty of quickly extracting such equipment during an emergency. Guns in particular often have projections (e.g., the gun sight) that often snags on adjacent material. Because of the need for a police officer or police trainer to have ready access to his equipment, a need exists for a better method for carrying police equipment.